Here’s
a litany of thanksgiving from Bruce Gillette and Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. It
was posted on the Center for Christian
Ethics website.
Litany of Thanksgiving
O
God, we thank you this day for Christians
who
seek to live out their faith in their everyday lives.
We
know that we cannot earn your love,
but
we can respond to your love.
You
call us to live holy lives
out
of gratitude for all that you have done for us.
We
thank you for people who find joy in the midst of trials and difficulties:
for
the hospital patient who gives hope and inspiration to the visitor,
for
the homeless person who teaches the social worker the meaning of faith,
for
the family that prays together in the face of death.
We
thank you for those who endure temptation:
for
the young person who says “no” to a friend who wants to shoplift,
for
the office worker who refuses to join in negative conversation,
for
the company executive who puts justice before profits.
We
thank you for those who are ever-generous in giving to others:
for
the child who puts her allowance in the church’s mission offering,
for
the young adult at a first job who dares to tithe his new income,
for
the neighbor who gets up at four in the morning
to
shovel his elderly neighbor’s sidewalk.
We
thank you for those who are quick to listen,
slow
to speak, slow to anger:
for
couples who listen to each other in love,
for
people who count to ten before speaking their minds
and
then speak gently,
for
people who remain calm and loving when others’ tempers flare.
We
thank you for people who live out their faith by caring for orphans,
widows
and others in need:
for
foster parents and adoptive parents,
for
those who seek to work for peace and justice
so
that fewer people will be orphaned and widowed,
for
those who share a cup of coffee with a lonely neighbor,
for
those who visit in nursing homes.
We
thank you for people who are doers of the word and not hearers only.
O
God, may we be counted among them.
Help
us to hear your word and to find joy in doing what you call us to do.
May
we live our lives in thankful obedience. Amen.
~ from a worship service written by Bruce Gillette and
Carolyn Winfrey Gillette for the Center for Christian Ethics. Posted on http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/174967.pdf
